France's Macron asks Catholics to voice euthanasia concerns

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron is encouraging religious leaders to voice their concerns ahead of a proposal to change the country's laws on assisted reproduction and euthanasia.

Speaking to Catholic bishops in Paris —a rare occasion in the historically Catholic country attached to its secular values— Macron evoked Monday the role of religion to enrich "deep ethical, moral debates."

He said: "Some principles set out by the Church are facing conflicting and complex realities."

Macron's government plans to unveil a bill on bioethics by the end of the year.

One provision would make single women and lesbian couples eligible for assisted reproduction, which currently only is available to infertile heterosexual couples in France.